Miss Julia Takes Over

I adore Miss Julia's voice as main character and narrator. She is snarky, but loving; and has a comical way of not recognizing her personal flaws, while seeing them in others. There was a lot to love about this book, the characters, and the mystery as well. It was rather unfortunate that the storyline had so much in common with the first book, but it was easy enough to overlook with the present differences that did exist.

Second in the series, and I probably won't read any more. This time Little Lloyd's mama has disappeared and when the local police refuse to take it seriously, Miss Julia hires a private eye, whom she then proceeds to hound and nag because she thinks she can do a better job than he can. Miss Julia is just a little bit too Church Lady for me to continue this series any further.

Miss Julia Takes Over by Ann B. Ross. Library section 13: adult fiction. It all began with Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, in which Hazel Marie Puckett showed up on Miss Julia’s doorstep with her son, Little Lloyd, who bore a startling resemblance to Miss Julia’s dead husband Lloyd Springer. Miss Julia being a fine, church-going North Carolinian lady, well, she just took in Hazel Marie and little Lloyd for the sake of the child, you understand. Now she must face another problem when Hazel Marie doesn’t return from a dinner date. Miss Julia hires J. D. Pickens, a local investigator, to find Hazel Marie, but Miss Julia being Miss Julia, she tells J. D. how to do his job. She and Little Lloyd even insist on tagging along with him, and show more they all end up in a hair-raising chase on a NASCAR race track!
This hilarious series of novels is peppered with eccentric characters – Miss Julia; her African-American housekeeper, Lillian, who always has two cents to add to every situation and who makes the most delicious food in town; little Lloyd, a sweet child with a head for financial figures and solving mysteries; assorted church ladies with bouffant hairdos and their own crosses to bear; a greedy minister who wants to get his hands on Miss Julia’s money so he can build a huge church complex; Sam, a handsome gentleman lawyer sweet on Miss Julia, and enough nefarious characters blowing in from out of town to keep the whole town in an uproar.
These novels are just predictable enough to be comforting and familiar, and just funny and mysterious enough to keep you entertained. They usually involve Miss Julia getting: 1) mad, 2) scared half to death, and 3) doing something she never thought she’d be able to do, just to keep those she loves – and herself – safe, sound and happy. She’s endearing, kind, and generous even if she drives her friends and loved ones nuts. The stories are written in first person, so they feel very immediate – we know what’s in Miss Julia’s head this way, but part of the fun is figuring out how she mistakes the emotions and actions of others. These books are a hoot. Fannie Flagg says, “Hooray for Miss Julia! show less

After Miss Julia accepts that maybe Little Lloyd is her late husbands son, his mother and MIss Julia form an unlikely familial bond. When Hazel, Little Lloyd mother doesn't return from a dinner date with a church member, she persuades the local police to begin a search party, which becomes quite extensive. Fast paced, funny and full of colorful characters that will take you racing through the South.

Synopsis: Miss Julia can't find Hazel Marie and fears that she has been kidnapped, but she can't get the sheriff to act on her information. Since she can't get help, she hires a private detective who finds that Hazel Marie is accidentally mixed up in the dark side of stock car racing. Miss Julia sets the local preacher straight and saves Hazel Marie's son from being taken from her.
Review: This lady reminds me, in a way, of a mixture of Aunt Bea and Miss Zukas. She's a bit to up-tight for my taste, but the story was interesting with a satisfying ending.

This book for me was just meh

The only reason this book got a 3 over getting a 1.5 or 2 stars was because of the last couple of chapters. I finished reading the last 120 pages or so over night. This, after me attempting to read it since December 2013. For a while, I thought it had more to do with me being extremely stressed for a while because when I get that stressed, it's harder for me to read and stay focused on even the best books. This book for me, even under good circumstances was boring. It was that way for me because they mostly talked about NASCAR it seemed. Sometimes, it would just drag out too much for me.

The other thing that irritated me about the book was Miss Julia's ways seemed amplified in this book. It was just annoying show more for me. At close to the end of this book, I decided to look over some reviews of the book and I saw that many people felt the same way I did about this particular situation. I still adore Miss Julia for her wit and how smart she is.

There was a new male character in the story, J.D. Pickens, that I grew to love in the book because he just wouldn't take Miss Julia's stuff! And of course the old ones from the first book that I still loved.

In the last chapter or two, I began to see potential in one that I wasn't sure would develop sense about himself but after something began to hit home with him. And even Miss Julia seemed to see some things about herself that needed to grow and change; hopefully that will show up in the next book. I will try to continue on to the third book in this series Miss Julia Throws A Wedding. I hope it is better than this one. I really do love the characters and don't want to give up on it, but I don't want to waste my time, or keep books that just aren't worth continuing. (I have 6 more books on my shelf in the series..of what I believe that has about 15-16 books total so far in the series).

This is a book I will have to replace because the cover is tearing and a few pages fell out towards the end of the book. show less

Life in a southern town with a church. This is a light read, but entertaining. Miss Julia has really come along ways in this series---from mousy housewife to a "do what's needed woman!"